Coolmore adds rights to Nysos to already loaded stallion roster
?q=100)
Already in the midst of a breeding season in which it debuted three Eclipse Award champions on its Kentucky stallion roster, the international Coolmore group continues to expand its influence. In two recent developments, the outfit has acquired 1,100 additional acres of land in Kentucky, and has secured the future stud rights to Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos.
The Irish Farmers Journal reported that Coolmore acquired 1,100 acres from Shadwell Farm in a near-$50 million transaction. The land parcel is described as being convenient to both Keeneland and to Coolmore’s main Kentucky base at Ashford Stud, some 11 miles away. Although its stallion operations and many of its broodmares reside at Ashford, the operation owns additional land in the Lexington area for additional broodmares and young stock.
Shadwell was owned by the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who died in 2021. Since then, although Shadwell continues to breed and race, the operation has become much smaller. Shadwell stands five stallions, including European Horse of the Year Baaeed, in Newmarket, England. It no longer stands stallions in Kentucky, although it does maintain a broodmare band and racing string, with Sheikha Hissa, Sheikh Hamdan’s daughter, attending the Keeneland September yearling sale to make purchases. Shadwell had 93 starts in North America in 2025, according to Equibase, down from 229 in 2015.
Several of Shadwell’s U.S. land holdings have become available in recent years. Its former Shadayid Stud, an 839-acre property in Kentucky, was purchased by John Stewart of Resolute Racing in 2023 to serve as the base of his growing operations.
Meanwhile, Ashford Stud is standing 14 stallions for the breeding season that began in February – not counting Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, an Ashford stallion who is standing the current season in Japan, and who is expected to return to the farm in July. Ashford added Eclipse champions Citizen Bull, Fierceness, and Sierra Leone to the roster this year.
Citizen Bull was edged in his final start by Nysos in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last November at Del Mar, and that foe will eventually join him on the Ashford roster. Coolmore and partners have acquired an interest in the horse, and he will stand at Ashford upon his retirement, in a deal first reported by Thoroughbred Daily News.
Nysos, by hot sire Nyquist, races for Baoma Corp. He has won seven of nine starts to date, and has never been worse than second, with earnings of more than $4.7 million. His Grade 1 Dirt Mile highlights his six graded stakes victories, and both his losses have come in solid efforts, as he was beaten a neck by Mindframe in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs and, most recently, was runner-up to champion Forever Young in the Saudi Cup.
The interest in Nysos adds to Coolmore’s strong roster of runners – and potential future stallions – among dirt males in 2026. The operation also holds an interest in multiple Grade 1 Journalism, who is preparing for a 4-year-old campaign, and is the majority owner of prominent Kentucky Derby candidate Paladin.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.